He built a tiny house for $1.5k and grows his own food too

This is the story of a man who recently built a shed tiny house for only $1,500 in Orlando, Florida. If you’re tired of seeing $20k+ tiny homes, this is a relief, isn’t it?

Rob Greenfield built his tiny house using 99% recycled/reclaimed materials. And in building his tiny house, he only created about 30 pounds worth of waste.

It gets better, too. He has a wonderful outdoor kitchen, bathroom, garden, composting system, rainwater collection system, and he’s even found a way to create energy from food scraps. He explains it all below.

He built a $1,500 tiny house in Orlando with a micro-farm!

The interior is very simple… Sort of like a Thoreau Cabin!

There’s just a couch with built-in storage underneath.

The couch easily turns into a comfortable bed.

Here’s a peek at the storage that’s beneath…

Every genius needs a place to gather their thoughts…

Just beside the desk… Something very important to Rob… His efficient freezer where he stores all of the food he grows and forages since this year, he’s only eating the food he grows and forages himself!

Rob also has plenty of shelf storage for more food and some books.

You can see some of what he’s gathered here:

And of course his super minimalist wardrobe.

Since Rob only plans to be here for about two years, he didn’t think it would be worth investing in a solar system, especially since he uses very little energy. So instead, he just hooks into the grid with an extension cord.

This is Rob’s awesome outdoor kitchen for food prep and cooking.

This cooktop is special because it converts food scraps into gas for cooking – Rob explains how it works in the video below…

The trick is, you put your food scraps into THIS…

If you’re wondering, Rob worked out a deal where he exchanges his services to a homeowner in return for getting to live there for a couple of years.

In the end, the homeowner gets to keep Rob’s tiny house along with just about everything else he builds on the property (especially the micro-farm)

The fireplace. 🙂

Composting toilet system (one for number one and the other for number two)… Rob explains how it all works and why in the video below. Very interesting!

Rob uses THIS plant (below) to grow his own super soft and natural TOILET PAPER! Yes! The plant is called Blue Spur Flower (or Plectranthus Barbatus)

Welcome to my tiny house in Orlando, Florida where I live simply and sustainably! I built this tiny house along with friends for under $1,500, with nearly 100% secondhand and repurposed materials and while creating near zero waste- just 30 pounds of trash!

Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!

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Yes these can cost a very low amount.
I built a 10×16′ version for just $2k using 95% new materials from Lowes, HomeDepot here SE of Tampa.
He has a lot of cool stuff like his water, outside kitchen which I do too as cooking inside in Florida
gets hot, uses more A/C.
Not sure why people in tiny houses don’t use other than a simple shed roof. It only leads to far more work, higher , more cost, leaks and less strength. 2 people could build these in under 2 days from new materials. KISS
10′ wide I found better than 8′ or 12′ as room for different things on each side without too much wasted space 12′ wide does.
16′ long lets you have kitchen, bath at 1 end and the rest open to furnish however you want with standard furniture.

Thanks for posting this! I enjoyed Robs video presentation. This is a great example of what can be done if you are so inclined. If you are patient and have the time, you can generally find a lot of free usable materials, especially in Orlando. I lived there for decades (glad to be out of there!). It’s rare to see someone addressing so many different aspects of conservation in their daily living practices. I personally wouldn’t want to live this small but it’s wonderful that Rob is sharing the possibilities with everyone. Great job!

Thanks so much for posting a video of someone actually living in the tiny he built. A little extreme for most of us, who would need an indoor kitchen (the bugs in Florida, OMG, NO!) and bathroom.
Interestingly, there is interest in tinies like these from organizations working with indigent or homeless people. They form several of these into a small community, around a community kitchen and washroom. Many of them are working well, and removing some of the homeless population from the streets

Would cost a bit more here, since the climate is colder and more insulation is need – and some kind of heating system – either passive or an oven or so. An indoor kitchen is also required. So the cost would be significantly higher. One would also need to make some kind of insulated shell for the Homebiogas system or else it would stop working in winter. It could be an insulated shell with polycarbonate plates, towards the sun, to get the suns rays to heat up the inside during winter – and ability to stay open during the sommer months. I would also opt for a solar system.

He seems like a really happy person. I’m envious, though happy for him. As someone mentioned above, it would be a bit more of a challenge in a colder climate…though the hot humid Summer nights aren’t so easy, either. 🙂 This reminds me of how easy it is to live, really, when you get down to basics.

Love it.
I would love to live this way one day. It’s a lot of work… And I currently live in Florida so I don’t think I could do it without screens fans and some kind of air conditioning. It can get brutal here.

however, for the zoning comment, I have a shed almost twice the size on my property, 12×24. My intention was to either turn it into some kind of a tiny house to airbnb or a she shed with an office. I haven’t done that yet, but it is hand built for it by an amazing Amish shed co… And I could absolutely let someone come in here, finish it, and live without a problem. Esp if there is no plumbing involved, which is a work around in my city…it’s not allowed. However, it’s already set up for electricity and the garden is planted. 🙂

Since roof shape effects how it handles winds, how well it can handle snow loads, how it effects solar gain, it can effect the placement and size of windows, can determine whether or not it’s ideal for options like solar panels, how effective the roof can be used for rain catchment, it effects how much space you have in the loft or attic, it effects how strong the roof is and whether it can have other uses like a flat roof can be used as a roof deck, it effects how the house is structured because how the roof is supported can be very different from one roof shape to the next, etc.

Shed roofs are simple but they can be vulnerable to high winds and a steep pitch can mean the ceiling can be too low on one side… Among other trade offs like the roof shape means all the water from rain will run off in one direction, which means you need a larger gutter system to handle the runoff or have to deal with increased erosion on the ground on one side of the house…

Totally agree… I’d say, and I’m no expert on this, that having a shed roof would be more problematic with snow loads. Having a 2 pitch roof would (should?) mean that snow would be easier to shed.

Shedding water on a shed roof would mean less guttering and hence, in heavy downpours, more chance of overflow. Personally I’d over engineer and go for a large profile gutter. And have it feed into a water barrel or two. If a twin pitched roof then probably a standard gutter on each side and down pipes to either separate water barrels or a more complex joining to a single water barrel. Which, depending on house design might not be the most practical solution.

As my old man used to say, for every good idea/solution there’s an equally good idea/solution waiting to kick you in the bum. In my case, that other idea/solution tends to be the better one. Meaning often times my wallet was lightened somewhat.

So he built a shed for $1500 and set up a campsite in it. Good for him. Not a complete house by any but the broadest concept, but if it suits his needs that’s great. Wouldn’t be viable for the vast majority of people’s lifestyles.

Fair enough. On the other hand, what frequently passes for a so-called “tiny home” wouldn’t be viable for the vast majority of people who actually believe in the “tiny” part of the (unfortunately) trendy, chic popularized version of was at one time a meaningful term—TINY houses.

Just saying. It’s refreshing to see a tiny house that is not only tiny, but eminently affordable. Good job, Rob Greenfield!

This is nearly perfectly designed. If I built this: make 4 foot taller ( for a sleeping loft), add a overhang (for the kitchen), and build a small wet room (type of shower, sink, toilet combination used in Europe) on the main floor.

Rob has been doing this for years, backyard in a very tiny house in San Diego, minimalist living in an apartment, bike touring across the country. Point being: There are lots of ways to do the same thing. He is probably living illegally in that backyard, hopefully he can get away with it for the two years he plans on being there. But…if he gets caught, 1500 is not much to loose, compared to spending 50K on one of those luxury tiny houses and finding out its completely illegal to live in one.

This is completely illegal in Florida. Habitable dwellings require heat, a kitchen and bath and minimum room sizes. It’s a disservice to the tiny house movement to promote illegal structures, IMO. I wish you would stick with legal and permitted dwellings.

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